Donald Bruce Dawe was born in 1930 in Geelong, Victoria, Melbourne, he is one of the most successful and prolific contemporary poets of Australia. He struggled with his studies, leaving school when he was sixteen, working as a gardener and postman. In 1954 he entered the University of Melbourne. He grew up in a household where his father, a farm labourer, was often unemployed and absent from home. The poem ‘Drifters’ by Bruce Dawe should be selected for the prestigious honour of ‘Best Contemporary Australian Poem’ as it is a realism poem, describes Australian lifestyle felicitously, which lead the Australian contemporary audiences easily fall in the poem and deeply engraved in their mind. Bruce Dawe drifted through his early years showing promise as a writer but finding little direction, which characterises his poetry and gives a voice to so-called ordinary Australians. Bruce Dawe has published 12 books of poetry. His poetries are described about life and how people deal with everyday obstacles. The poem that I am nominating is ‘Drifters’ by Bruce Dawe.
The poem ‘Drifters’ describe the life style that most Australians went through in the 1960s, due to economic hardship. This poem shows how they weren't able to establish a stable lifestyle due to often moving communities and homes. Australian audiences feel emotional as it describes the subsistence of the late 1960s.
The poem ‘Drifters’ depicts the restless life of a transient and a rouseabout family. The poem demonstrates the destiny of the family’s existence. ‘Drifters’ is about a household who move from place to place, as the father needs to move to find work ‘notice how the oldest girl is close to tears’ shows that the hardship that the eldest sister has to go through, she realised that her nomadic lives may never change, she cannot live as a normal teenager as she is not stationed in one place long enough, to become friends with the same age as hers, she is gradually frustrated